Welcome to the 13th chapter of my Pokemon Entertainment League series. In this chapter Roddy competes in his first non-starter match in the PEL and it's a match that he has a disadvantage in. I hope you enjoy it.
March 12th Part 1 (season 1 episode 13)
"So how do you feel?" I ask Roddy, sitting next to me in our dining hall. Its 7:30 in the morning and in about an hour Roddy will be going out to a crowd of people to fight against an opponent since our opening match in the PEL. About a two hours later, I will be having my first match as well.
He looks at me from his plate of eggs and bacon. "I would be lying if I said I didn't feel nervous but I feel a lot better than I did before our match. This is just a simple stepping stone." He smiles at me. "For both of us." But for him he had more to overcome than I did.
Roddy's match was a 1vs1, one pokemon each match but has a special condition associated with it. He could only use his Muk. Meaning his opponent not only knew what he was going to use but could strategize on how to defeat him with limited effort. His first match is going to be a bigger hurtle than mine was.
For me I have just a simple 1vs1, one pokemon each match. I can use any pokemon on my team so I'm not as hindered as Roddy is. But after seeing his Muk in action multiple times, I am quite confident that it can handle its own in battle. What I wasn't sure about was what his opponent would do.
"Well I'm confident for both of us. Yesterday's training should have helped you out in learning to overcome your weaknesses. For me, its just a simple battle I need to get around."
After another 15 minutes, we finished our food and left the hall on our way to the Abernot Arena for Roddy's match. We arrive and notice there is a good crowd around the stadium. If that is for Roddy's match or the previous match, I'm not sure of. We hang around for a bit more and then Roddy and I head inside the arena. Inside, he heads to where he needs to wait before his match and I head towards the stands to get a seat. I find one, sit down and wait for the match to start. The stands are slowly filling up but the amount of people isn't even close to full. I would say it's a little over half full and wonder if that meant anything. Were the people here interested in Roddy's performance before and come to see him now? Is it possible that this matchup wasn't that interesting to people? Or maybe this is normal. Before I can answer any of my own question the sound system for the stadium comes on.
"Ladies and gentlemen the match between Gladys Asimov and Roddy Fabre will begin. Introducing first is Gladys Asimov." A woman in her upper 20s leaves one side of the circle shaped arena and walks up to the field. She is tall, wearing a navy-blue suit. She has an air of power surrounding her with her long black hair and high heels. I don't know about being on the battlefield with her but I certainly would feel worried if I was in a corporation meeting with her.
"Now introducing Roddy Fabre." Roddy walks out from his side of the arena and towards the battlefield. He looked calm and not even close to being nervous. But since I had talked to him, I knew he must be a bit jumpy. At this point the referee walks up to the battlefield.
"This is a one on one special pokemon match with one pokemon each. The special requirement is that Roddy must use his Muk in this battle. The battle will end when either sides pokemon are unable to battle. First off Roddy, send out your pokemon." Roddy expands a pokeball from his belt and throws it and out comes his Sludge pokemon. The referee, accepting the requirements have been fulfilled turns to Gladys. "Gladys, send out your pokemon." Gladys looks determined and expands a pokeball and throws it.
"Hypno, go." The pokeball opens up and out comes the Hypnosis pokemon. It lands on the ground and looks quite confidently at its opponent. This wasn't a surprise. Knowing what your opponent would use, it would be foolish to not try and take advantage of the situation and put it in your favor.
"Now let the battle begin." The referee announces.
"Hypno, start things out with Zen Headbutt." The top of Hypno's head glows blue and it charges towards Muk. If it hits it will be quite effective against Muk so now to see how Roddy deals with it.
"Muk, counter with Fire Blast." Muk breathed in and exhaled a large amount of flames towards the charging psychic pokemon.
"Hypno, jump." Gladys calls out. Hypno, at the last second, jumps over the flames but launched itself towards Muk. Due to the counter attack doing nothing, Hypno slams into Muk with its super effective attack. Muk is knocked back and looks a bit caught off guard.
"Muk, Sludge Wave." Muk launches a wave a purple goo towards Hypno.
"Use Psychic." Hypno's eyes glow blue and the goo coming towards it glows blue as well and stops in midair. "Now send it back." The sludge suddenly does a U-turn and goes directly back to Muk. Muk is unable to get out of the way quick enough and the sludge slams into Muk. Yikes, Muk can't seem to get any sort of advantage in this situation. Maybe Roddy bit off more than he could chew in this match.
Muk is looking tired and I can tell that maybe this isn't going the way Roddy wants. Roddy though doesn't look worried. Overconfident? Or maybe a plan? Or maybe just doesn't see it yet. "Hypno, Zen Headbutt." Hypno begins charging at Muk, just like it did before. I realize this could be it, the final blow in Roddy's first official battle. Hypno is halfway across the field and almost within striking range.
"Pound." Roddy calls out confidently. Muk thrusts out its fist and collides with Hypno's head. The crowd ohs and sounds amazed at such a daring counter attack. "Now, Poison Gas attack." Muk inhales a large amount of air and exhales a dark purple cloud right at Hypno. Hypno quickly starts coughing and isn't able to keep up its resistance of Muk's fist. It falls against it and Muk launches a full Pound attack against the psychic pokemon. It sends it flying to the other side of the field where it lands hard on the field, it struggles to get up since its injured and coughing from the poison.
It's amazing to see how quickly the battle turned around in just a few moves and I wonder if this was the plan the whole time. Make it seem like he was fighting as hard as he could, and then at a bad time release the Poison Gas attack and turn it around. More than likely, I think it was the plan to use Poison Gas as the last resort. For now though, I think Roddy is in control.
"Sludge Wave." Roddy calls out. Muk belches out the poison sludge wave at Hypno. I realize that Hypno, while it can see it, doesn't seem reacting to it. Almost like the poison is clouding its mind of the threat. But Gladys breaks its cloud.
"Psychic, take command of the wave." Hypno, quickly shakes off its daze and holds up its hand and the wave becomes surrounded by the blue aura it had before. At the last second Hypno pushes it away from itself and back towards Muk. But it suddenly starts coughing excessively, losing focus and the sludge wave falls apart and splatters harmlessly on the ground a few feet in front of Muk. This is not good for Hypno. The poison is really hindering its ability to focus on the fight at hand.
On one hand Hypno does have the type advantage against Muk yet the poison has stalled any type of pace it had. Roddy has certainly evened out this match at the best possible point. But now it's really anyone's game.
"Hypno, Ice Punch." Hypno regains as much of its focus as it can. It holds itself in such a manner that it stops coughing and stands itself upright. It then starts running towards Muk with its fist encased in ice, but it's running not as fast as it used to, like the poison has done its job faster than expected.
"Fire Blast Muk." Gladys goes wide eyed and yells towards Hypno. Muk opens up its mouth and releases a slew of flames. Hypno looks startled but isn't able to get out of the way fast enough and is directly hit by the flames and launched backwards. It lands hard on its side of the field, close to its trainer, not moving at all.
"Hypno is unable to battle. Muk is the winner. The match goes to Robby Fabre." The referee announces to the crowd, who starts cheering for Roddy and the exciting match. I clap too since I am happy for him and I'm extremely impressed with how he worked that match. They both exit the field and I get up as well to go and meet up with him.
I walk around the arena until I find Roddy talking with some other people who seem to be talking to him about his match. I wait politely until he notices me and seems to politely leave and walk over to me.
"Great match." I tell him. He looks happy at me telling him that.
"Thanks. It's a relief that it went my way." We start walking out of the arena and Roddy turns to look at me and smirks. "Now, its your turn." I quickly realize in just a couple of hours I would also be competing.
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter we will have Zane's battle. Please review and answer these questions
1) How did you enjoy Roddy's battle?
2) Do you enjoy Roddy's method in battling?
3) How do you think Zane will do in his battle in the next chapter?